Anyone have any luck with vehicle interior scenes?

5200north

I'm having no luck. I was thinking of exporting a car model to a 3d program and bb chopping it in half but there must be an easier way

Griffin Avid

When I battled my car interior shots, I had to go into the surfaces tab and make certain parts invisible so the camera could get the angles I wanted.

And then I used Light Probes or Point lighst to overcome the dark interiors.

There was also a similar vehicle to the one I was using. The main one that I picked for the outside didn't have working doors and a real back seat. It had the shape, but no seats back there or leg room for a figure to sit.

So I grabed a similar car and used that for the inside shots. Once I added a little color to the trim, it really looked like the same vehicle.

I've also removed the windows to get the camera to sit in the door frame. 

ColinFrench

I tend to avoid the issues by buying only convertibles.

But yes, I've done some other interior shots by adding a Ghost Light if needed and making the camera's FOV more wide angle.

Ati

I haven't done a car interior scene yet, but how about scaling everything up? That way you can move more precisely with the camera. Just a thought, I haven't tried it.

Havos

Have you tried the Iray section pane? This is perfect for slicing open interiors

Kitsumo

Section pane is definitely the easiest. Next would be using Geometry Editor to delete parts of the car.

sapat

Havos said:

Have you tried the Iray section pane? This is perfect for slicing open interiors

Is there a tutorial for using this?  I saw it mentioned in another thread a while back, but i have no idea how to use it, how to position it, etc.  Does it make its own light with emissives, or do you just light your scene like you normally would?  I'd love to figure it out.

Thanks.

maikdecker

Ati said:

I haven't done a car interior scene yet, but how about scaling everything up? That way you can move more precisely with the camera. Just a thought, I haven't tried it.

I just had one of those "Why haven't I thought of that..." moments...

The Blurst of Times

I hadn't thought of Iray section planes (Create -> New Iray Section Plane Node), but that would be the quickest and easiest way to chop off the side of a car during render time. You don't have to fiddle with opacity settings and rolling down windows/opening doors to fool with the car.

Everything "above" the plane gets chopped out, so keep that in mind when positioning. You just rotate the plane so the "top" of the plane is the dividing line for the chopper.
You could use a Primitive Plane object (in the same spot as the Section Node) to help position where the plane will chop things out of view.

CHOP! (terribly placed camera to illustrate the section plane technique)

5200north

ok i had heard of them but i never really explored their use. i'm going to search for some info/tutorials tonight. thank you guys....

 

RenderPretender

This is an interesting thread. Section planes are a miracle, but are dependent upon the composition of the scene. I did an experiment last night lighting the inside of a vehicle in an Iray scene whose only light was an HDRI outdoor setting. Of course, the occupant furthest from the camera was somewhat underlit. Turning the camera headlamp on at very low intensity was actually very helpful, though the direct line of the light tended to flatten the image a bit (though you can offset the headlamp, but not rotate it). I wonder if there would be a qualitative improvement by affixing a small ghostlight plane to the camera and using that as a supplementary light source?

Cybersox

5200north said:

ok i had heard of them but i never really explored their use. i'm going to search for some info/tutorials tonight. thank you guys....

 

I'll do you one better - here's an excellent tutorial that comes with a link for some pre-configured Iray plane setups.  https://youtu.be/GCJfIlk-4Yo

Cybersox

Kitsumo said:

Section pane is definitely the easiest. Next would be using Geometry Editor to delete parts of the car.

You don't have to delete parts of it... in fact, that can often cause complications.  Just turnng off the visibility of the selected areas is all that's necessary. 

Cybersox

sapat said:

Havos said:

Have you tried the Iray section pane? This is perfect for slicing open interiors

Is there a tutorial for using this?  I saw it mentioned in another thread a while back, but i have no idea how to use it, how to position it, etc.  Does it make its own light with emissives, or do you just light your scene like you normally would?  I'd love to figure it out.

Thanks.

See the link I posted to SnowSultan's tutorial above.  An Iray plane doesn make light, it just shuts off the visibiloity of everything on one side of it.  As  Snow's tut shows, where this becomes especially useful is when you use multiple Iray section planes in the same shot and hide everything except what's directly in fron of the camera.  The one big catch is that they WILL hide some light sources, which will obviously affect the lighting in the final render, so you have to be fairly careful in how you place them.

Cybersox

masi3vee said:

This is an interesting thread. Section planes are a miracle, but are dependent upon the composition of the scene. I did an experiment last night lighting the inside of a vehicle in an Iray scene whose only light was an HDRI outdoor setting. Of course, the occupant furthest from the camera was somewhat underlit. Turning the camera headlamp on at very low intensity was actually very helpful, though the direct line of the light tended to flatten the image a bit (though you can offset the headlamp, but not rotate it). I wonder if there would be a qualitative improvement by affixing a small ghostlight plane to the camera and using that as a supplementary light source?

I wouldn't attach the Ghost plane to the camera, as you want the GL on the side of the plane that ISN'T being made invisible.  However, a better trick is usually to NOT put the plane in the scene so that it hide things horizontally, but rather to to put it above the scene with the side that cuts off evetything facing DOWN so that it hides the side of the vehicle/building/etc and then the ground benath, where there are rarely any significant light sources.  Also, rather than using just a plain ghost light, I'll often actually do a reverse angle render of the scene and add that as a texture to the diffuse colors tab of the ghost light plane so that the GL's emmissions will more closely match those of the rest of the scene and you get more naturally varied pools of light and reflections.   

Oh, and one more thing since we're talking car interiors.  One of the most overlookeked sections of most vehichle models is the interior lighting.  ONe of my first steps in prepping any vehicle model is to make copies of all the dial (and other lights) surface textures and apply them to the emmissives tab so that they provide functional light.  that may require making a mask in photoshop in some cases when the metal and dial are on the same image, but there's nothing that sells an image as much as proper interactive lighting from the all those little glowing dials on the characters' hands, clothes and faces. 

RenderPretender

Cybersox said:

masi3vee said:

This is an interesting thread. Section planes are a miracle, but are dependent upon the composition of the scene. I did an experiment last night lighting the inside of a vehicle in an Iray scene whose only light was an HDRI outdoor setting. Of course, the occupant furthest from the camera was somewhat underlit. Turning the camera headlamp on at very low intensity was actually very helpful, though the direct line of the light tended to flatten the image a bit (though you can offset the headlamp, but not rotate it). I wonder if there would be a qualitative improvement by affixing a small ghostlight plane to the camera and using that as a supplementary light source?

I wouldn't attach the Ghost plane to the camera, as you want the GL on the side of the plane that ISN'T being made invisible.  However, a better trick is usually to NOT put the plane in the scene so that it hide things horizontally, but rather to to put it above the scene with the side that cuts off evetything facing DOWN so that it hides the side of the vehicle/building/etc and then the ground benath, where there are rarely any significant light sources.  Also, rather than using just a plain ghost light, I'll often actually do a reverse angle render of the scene and add that as a texture to the diffuse colors tab of the ghost light plane so that the GL's emmissions will more closely match those of the rest of the scene and you get more naturally varied pools of light and reflections.   

Oh, and one more thing since we're talking car interiors.  One of the most overlookeked sections of most vehichle models is the interior lighting.  ONe of my first steps in prepping any vehicle model is to make copies of all the dial (and other lights) surface textures and apply them to the emmissives tab so that they provide functional light.  that may require making a mask in photoshop in some cases when the metal and dial are on the same image, but there's nothing that sells an image as much as proper interactive lighting from the all those little glowing dials on the characters' hands, clothes and faces. 

Thanks for this. Though your suggestions seem to reference using a GL with a section plane, in my experiment of moments ago, I'm using a GL only, attached to the camera, set at a desired intensity for the scene, and it works like a charm! Calibratable light and no detail flatness!

Cybersox

masi3vee said:

Cybersox said:

masi3vee said:

This is an interesting thread. Section planes are a miracle, but are dependent upon the composition of the scene. I did an experiment last night lighting the inside of a vehicle in an Iray scene whose only light was an HDRI outdoor setting. Of course, the occupant furthest from the camera was somewhat underlit. Turning the camera headlamp on at very low intensity was actually very helpful, though the direct line of the light tended to flatten the image a bit (though you can offset the headlamp, but not rotate it). I wonder if there would be a qualitative improvement by affixing a small ghostlight plane to the camera and using that as a supplementary light source?

I wouldn't attach the Ghost plane to the camera, as you want the GL on the side of the plane that ISN'T being made invisible.  However, a better trick is usually to NOT put the plane in the scene so that it hide things horizontally, but rather to to put it above the scene with the side that cuts off evetything facing DOWN so that it hides the side of the vehicle/building/etc and then the ground benath, where there are rarely any significant light sources.  Also, rather than using just a plain ghost light, I'll often actually do a reverse angle render of the scene and add that as a texture to the diffuse colors tab of the ghost light plane so that the GL's emmissions will more closely match those of the rest of the scene and you get more naturally varied pools of light and reflections.   

Oh, and one more thing since we're talking car interiors.  One of the most overlookeked sections of most vehichle models is the interior lighting.  ONe of my first steps in prepping any vehicle model is to make copies of all the dial (and other lights) surface textures and apply them to the emmissives tab so that they provide functional light.  that may require making a mask in photoshop in some cases when the metal and dial are on the same image, but there's nothing that sells an image as much as proper interactive lighting from the all those little glowing dials on the characters' hands, clothes and faces. 

Thanks for this. Though your suggestions seem to reference using a GL with a section plane, in my experiment of moments ago, I'm using a GL only, attached to the camera, set at a desired intensity for the scene, and it works like a charm! Calibratable light and no detail flatness!

So you're basically just using the GL as a fill light.  Gotcha.  Yeah, ghost lights are one of those tools that once you discover them seem to be the solution to almost everything.  The only real catch is that they're not really great for creating defined specularity, which is why I really wish someone would come up with an Iray equivalent to Age Of Armors Advanced light sets for 3DL.  Those things are just amazing.

Oso3D

If it makes people feel any better, photographing and filming scenes in cars is ALSO really flippin hard, and moviemakers do some extensive stuff to pull it off.

Like remove a door for part of a shot, then do a cut to an exterior shot. Maybe with computer controlled cameras so the motion is fluid and some VFX to clean up the transition.

 

duckbomb

The Blurst of Times said:

I hadn't thought of Iray section planes (Create -> New Iray Section Plane Node), but that would be the quickest and easiest way to chop off the side of a car during render time. You don't have to fiddle with opacity settings and rolling down windows/opening doors to fool with the car.

Everything "above" the plane gets chopped out, so keep that in mind when positioning. You just rotate the plane so the "top" of the plane is the dividing line for the chopper.
You could use a Primitive Plane object (in the same spot as the Section Node) to help position where the plane will chop things out of view.

CHOP! (terribly placed camera to illustrate the section plane technique)

OH MY GOD WHAT IS THIS MAGIC!!!  I've literally got HUNDREDS of saved files because I hide, and unhide, adn delete, geo to make this work... and now I can just do THIS!?!? 

Mind blown.  Im gonna need to go lie down for a sec...

RenderPretender

Cybersox said:

masi3vee said:

Cybersox said:

masi3vee said:

This is an interesting thread. Section planes are a miracle, but are dependent upon the composition of the scene. I did an experiment last night lighting the inside of a vehicle in an Iray scene whose only light was an HDRI outdoor setting. Of course, the occupant furthest from the camera was somewhat underlit. Turning the camera headlamp on at very low intensity was actually very helpful, though the direct line of the light tended to flatten the image a bit (though you can offset the headlamp, but not rotate it). I wonder if there would be a qualitative improvement by affixing a small ghostlight plane to the camera and using that as a supplementary light source?

I wouldn't attach the Ghost plane to the camera, as you want the GL on the side of the plane that ISN'T being made invisible.  However, a better trick is usually to NOT put the plane in the scene so that it hide things horizontally, but rather to to put it above the scene with the side that cuts off evetything facing DOWN so that it hides the side of the vehicle/building/etc and then the ground benath, where there are rarely any significant light sources.  Also, rather than using just a plain ghost light, I'll often actually do a reverse angle render of the scene and add that as a texture to the diffuse colors tab of the ghost light plane so that the GL's emmissions will more closely match those of the rest of the scene and you get more naturally varied pools of light and reflections.   

Oh, and one more thing since we're talking car interiors.  One of the most overlookeked sections of most vehichle models is the interior lighting.  ONe of my first steps in prepping any vehicle model is to make copies of all the dial (and other lights) surface textures and apply them to the emmissives tab so that they provide functional light.  that may require making a mask in photoshop in some cases when the metal and dial are on the same image, but there's nothing that sells an image as much as proper interactive lighting from the all those little glowing dials on the characters' hands, clothes and faces. 

Thanks for this. Though your suggestions seem to reference using a GL with a section plane, in my experiment of moments ago, I'm using a GL only, attached to the camera, set at a desired intensity for the scene, and it works like a charm! Calibratable light and no detail flatness!

So you're basically just using the GL as a fill light.  Gotcha.  Yeah, ghost lights are one of those tools that once you discover them seem to be the solution to almost everything.  The only real catch is that they're not really great for creating defined specularity, which is why I really wish someone would come up with an Iray equivalent to Age Of Armors Advanced light sets for 3DL.  Those things are just amazing.

Never thought of it that way, but yes! That's exactly what I'm doing. And as mentioned by OsO3D, this is still hard in the real world, so I'm allowing for soem measure of "dimness" in the scene, since the camera/viewer is outside the car looking in.

Ivy

usually with very POV close ups

Cybersox

Oso3D said:

If it makes people feel any better, photographing and filming scenes in cars is ALSO really flippin hard, and moviemakers do some extensive stuff to pull it off.

Like remove a door for part of a shot, then do a cut to an exterior shot. Maybe with computer controlled cameras so the motion is fluid and some VFX to clean up the transition.

 

Yep.. Lghting inside cars has had a major revolution now that we have tiny, super-bright LED light panels... I've got six of those in my kit... and cameras keep getting smaller, but when you want to move the camera in a shot, you need an operator and that means some kind of special rig and a cut-out car.  Of course, keep in mind that when you see actors in cars in films, they're usually working in front of a projected image, a blue or green scren or sitting in a fake car on a trailer that's being pulled by a truck so the actors don't have to try to drive and act at the same time.  A lot of times now they'll just CG in the car except for the parts that have to be physically interacted with. 

Oso3D

This series is amazing, but here's a cool analysis of how they did some car scenes in Children of Men:

 

Cybersox

Oso3D said:

This series is amazing, but here's a cool analysis of how they did some car scenes in Children of Men:

 

Heh.  I was going to link that same video but was thinking that it was in one of the Stuntmen react installments and couldn't find it.   ;)  

Mistara

teent tiny cameras?

similar problem for cockpits and ironman helmets

narkfestmojo

Wow! Iray Section Pane is really awesome. You can also set Clip Lights to on and look into buildings without walls blocking the camera view or having a big open wall to ruin reflections. 

Someone needs to write a guide on awesome, but usually unknown features.

Ascania

Mystarra said:

teent tiny cameras?

Wide wide angle lenses.

nemesis10

This is disturbing: https://youtu.be/sD3zkSM6nD8 a iray plane test

Mistara

Ascania said:

Mystarra said:

teent tiny cameras?

Wide wide angle lenses.